Empire Of Secrets

Courtesy Of Al-Jazeera

With more than 1,300 government surveillance and monitoring facilities in the United States, Empire looks to understand why so many government programmes are top secret. Why is secrecy and surveillance becoming such big business? And, is a national security state anything new?

We discuss whether state secrets really work, the rationale behind them, and examine what the world might be like without secrets.

As Empire explores the ultimate secret of secrets, the implicit conclusion that emerges is that secrecy in government is counterproductive. It is not only terribly damaging to the democratic process, but also, in the long-run, to the very objective of national security.

Joining us as we unpack some of the known unknowns are Oscar-winning film director Oliver Stone, and war reporters Jeremy Scahill and Richard Rowley.

We unravel the psychology of secrets with psychiatrist Justin Frank, the author of Obama on the Couch  and Bush on the Couch . We look at the impact of state secrets brought to light with Dana Priest, a leading Washington Post investigative reporter on national security and author of two books, including her most recent Top Secret America: The Rise of the New American Security State .

We are also joined by Michael Ratner, president emeritus of the Center for Constitutional Rights and an attorney representing Julian Assange and Wikileaks; as well as Evgeny Morozov, an expert on internet and privacy issues, and author of two books: The Net Delusion: The Dark Side of Internet Freedom  and his most recent: To Save Everything, Click Here: The Folly of Technological Solutionism.

Who is watching the watchers is not simply questioning whether governments should surveil citizens, but also wonders when government secret-keeping crosses the line from democracy to dictatorship. 

The issue of was brought to attention with recent revelations about a secret surveillance programme run by America's National Security Agency, but it carries far beyond the US.

As director Oliver Stone put it in our interview, "It's a global security state, it's not a national security state."

Beinhart is the author of the book American Hero , which later became the Hollywood movie Wag The Dog . He joined Empire this month as a consultant to the show behind-the-scenes. The pair explain the production team's editorial decisions, why Empire is tackling the issue and what to expect from the programme.